Hobbs, who made his England debut in opposition to India at Headingley in 1967, claimed 12 wickets in seven Assessments over the course of the subsequent 4 years, and was the final specialist legspinner to play for England till Ian Salisbury’s debut in opposition to Pakistan in 1992.
On the county scene, he turned a key member of Essex’s squad after being signed by Trevor Bailey in 1961, and made a complete of 325 appearances throughout 15 seasons, taking 763 wickets at a median of precisely 26.00.
He was capped by Essex in 1964, and after leaving the membership in 1975, he completed his profession at Glamorgan in a shock return to first-class cricket as captain for the 1979 season. The ultimate match of his profession, in 1981, got here in opposition to his former membership at Colchester, by which he bowed out with a five-wicket haul.
Conversely, Hobbs’ finest bowling figures of 8 for 63 had come for Essex in opposition to Glamorgan at Swansea in 1966, and he completed his profession with a complete of 1,099 wickets – together with his one thousandth serving to to seal a memorable win over the reigning county champions, Worcestershire, in 1975.
Although hardly famend for his batting, Hobbs scored simply shy of 5000 first-class runs in his profession, together with two centuries – the final of which, additionally in 1975, got here from 46 balls in opposition to the touring Australians, and secured him the coveted Walter Lawrence Trophy for the season’s quickest hundred.
The information of his demise was introduced by his son Nick, who wrote on X, previously Twitter: “As we speak I stated goodbye to my finest mate. Relaxation in peace my mate.”
Chatting with BBC Essex Sport in 2020, Hobbs stated: “I look again on it with nice pleasure that I acquired over 1,000 wickets as a legspinner as a result of it would by no means be finished once more now, with the discount of county cricket matches. I used to be very, very fortunate in my profession”.
